


" Where did you get that Ace pin?"

by feel_like_plastic_waste



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Canon Asexual Character, In which a sex-repulsed asexual gets tired of this fandom's bullshit and writes proud asexual jon, Sex-Repulsed Asexual Character, Sex-Repulsed Jonathan Sims, should have called his fic "isaac projects onto jonathan sims"
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:47:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24013834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feel_like_plastic_waste/pseuds/feel_like_plastic_waste
Summary: Discovering that he was asexual was the best thing to have ever happened to Jonathan Sims, at least, sexual orientation wise.
Comments: 34
Kudos: 187





	" Where did you get that Ace pin?"

Jon learned about the term "Asexuality" during his college internship, in an english class where he was acting as a substitute to the usual teacher. 

It had been said during the obligatory sex ed class while he was desperately trying to bury himself in his book, ignoring the snickering from the male students as the person in charge of the presentation reviewed what they had said about the female reproductive system. Just four more minutes and this nightmare would be over with. 

It wasn't that the subject particularly bothered him, he was a grown man for god's sake... it's just that it completely uninterested him. The whole concept of having intercourse with another person seemed so far away from him- he was still just in college, better put that on his "to do later" list. Even then, he felt like he just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that some people his age  _ did that _ . Maybe he really was some kind of prude- something he had been called many times when he had been younger and explained that same thought process to the people who back then he called friends. The thought didn't bother him as much as it would have others. 

Two minutes remaining to the class, he focused back on his book. The students weren't getting too rowdy other than a few unnecessary comments here and there, but now the presentation was getting to the part where they talked about sexuality- which was relatively new for Jon to see in a sex ed presentation, but nevertheless a welcomed one. Kids needed to learn about these things- hell, it would have greatly helped Jon a few years back to know that you could be attracted to both men  _ and _ women. It was a nice enough thing to be aware of now. 

He tried to pull himself back into his book, but the voice of the lady giving the presentation was distracting him from the words, so he settled into listening to her while absentmindedly doodling on the attendance sheet. 

"Now, we've covered how anyone can be safe in a sexual relationship, but I also wish to talk about something that not a lot of people know about- Asexuality." 

That was… new? Jon looked up at the woman with a confused expression while one of the students jumped excitedly on their chair, raising their hand. 

"I know about that!" They declared proudly. "I'm asexual!" 

"You are?" The presenter smiled. "That's great! Then I'm sure you know where I'm going with this; there are people that do not experience sexual attraction, those people are called asexual! There are also those who do not experience romantic attraction who are aromantic. Sometimes people are both, but you can be one without the other too." 

A boy raised his hand, brows furrowed. "So what, you just don't wanna have sex?" 

"Not necessarily." The woman corrected. "Some people who are asexual can have sex and even enjoy it! Though I mostly want to address a specific spectrum of asexuality; those who are sex-repulsed!" 

Sex-repulsed. Asexuality. Jon felt like something inside his mind was unraveling at the speed of light. He couldn't even properly place it in words, not even in his own mind. Holy shit! The woman giving the presentation looked at him then, a smile drawing itself on her lips and he felt like a spotlight had appeared over him, despite the fact that he knew the students were too focused to see where she was looking.

"Of course, there's more to the asexuality spectrum than I can cover in the short time we have left, but I always thought it was important for today's youth to learn about it! Our society has always been focused on sex in relationships, but that's not the norm for everybody and I hope this has been insightful for some of you." 

Insightful indeed. Jon had wanted to hug this woman, yet he kept whatever emotions this new discovery made him feel to himself until his class ended and he could head home. 

It was all uphill from there. Jon spent the entire night on the internet, searching for whatever information on asexuality he could find. Needless to say, he was absolutely ecstatic by his discoveries! All these terms, all these explanations- all these  _ words _ ! They seemed to have been made exactly to describe him! 

He tested it out for a few days, made mention of it whenever it could slightly be relevant- He was of course faced with a negativity he would expect. Comments like "Are you sure you haven't found the right person yet?" or "It's a natural human urge, you can't NOT feel anything". Jon didn't really speak to those few people anymore. 

When he and Georgie went on their first date, he told her after only a few minutes, though of course he wasn't sure how she would react- maybe she wouldn't want to date someone who was sex-repulsed? He'd never thought about it, yet now he was a bit nervous. He liked Georgie, he liked her a lot and he could only imagine the bitter disappointment of rejection. Yet Georgie simply smiled and showed him the asexual pin hung on the inside of her jeans jacket.

The relationship was nice while it lasted, but they weren't the most compatible people and eventually broke away- not on the best terms, but they both still sent each other funny memes that made them think of the other whenever the occasion came up. 

Flashforward to The Magnus Institute. Jon ends up working in research with a colourful man named Tim- colourful in every sense of the term. Jon is baffled by how comfortable Tim is with discussing his sexuality and he finds himself becoming even more comfortable with his. For someone who isn't shy of making sexual remarks or jokes… Tim is extremely respectful of Jon's boundaries- even though the way Jon had communicated them was not… ideal. 

Still, Tim knew not to make his jokes targeted at Jon, knew not to get too explicit around him and that made Jon eternally grateful. Anyone else would probably have called him a prude, but Tim wasn't anyone else. 

Sasha hadn't had any opinions on it. Jon knew she acted a whole lot more serious around him than she did around Tim- which, now that he was Head Archivist, was just fine. 

He hadn't told Martin. Not for any particular reason, it simply had never been relevant. hell, he hadn't even told Sasha, she learned that through Tim.

Martin did learn about it not long after though. Jon woke up one morning with his work bag forgotten at work- how he had forgotten something so vital to him was a mystery. He still had files left over that he needed to carry, plus his lunch, and carrying important paperwork out in the open while travelling in a busy tube wasn't a very appealing imagery. Jon pulled out his old bag from college, shoved his things in and set off to work, ignoring the prickle of self consciousness that had started at the back of his skull. 

He relaxed once he got to work, releasing the documents from his old bag before discarding the old thing next to his desk, settling into his usual routine without giving it another thought.

As usual, Martin came to give him tea. Jon pushed back the irritation of being interrupted and thanked him, dismissing him quickly, eager to get back to his routine. Martin obeyed as usual, shuffling towards the exit before he glanced back and paused.

"Uh, Jon." 

He sighed, a bit irritated. "Yes, Martin?" 

"I'm sorry to bother you further but… uh… where did you get that ace pin?" 

The question took him aback. Jon gave Martin a confused look, then followed to where the man was pointing, almost fully leaning over his desk to look down at his old college bag. Sure enough, bright and pristine next to a bisexual and trans flag pin was a large asexual flag pin. He had forgotten it was there. 

"Oh, that's… Uh, that was a gift, from… an ex, I don't know where she got it… Why?" 

Martin shuffled, looking both excited and nervous at the same time. "Oh, I… I'm asexual too! I just… I can't really find any pins for it- I managed to get my own trans pin in a pawn shop of all places- and I was thinking of getting one but, if you don't know then I guess I'll finally have to look on, I don't know, Amazon or something." 

Jon blinked, taken a bit aback. Well then, that was… It didn't change anything to know that Martin was asexual as well, not really, but it made Jon feel happy. Of course, he didn't vocalize this in any way other than a light hum as he reached for his phone. 

"Hold on, I'll see if she remembers where she bought it- I'm pretty sure it wasn't Amazon but, who knows… I know she had a bunch of them though, maybe I could ask if she would be willing to give or well one of them-" 

He was already typing before Martin could protest and there was a moment of silence between them until Jon finally hit sent. He looked back up at Martin, whose face was now beet red.

"I'll let you know when she answers." Jon told him, "Is there anything else?" 

"Oh, uh no! No… Umm, I'll leave you to it then." The other man spun around, opening the door. Again, he stopped before actually leaving, turning again to smile at Jon brightly. "Thank you, Jon. That… that means a lot." 

For once, Jon allowed himself to smile back. He couldn't deny to himself how nice it felt to have someone else like him around, to be able to see those flag colours on someone that wasn't him- a reminder that he could be proud of who he was.

"You're welcome, Martin." Jon told him. Later that day, Jon moved his flag pins from his old college bag to his work bag. Nothing unprofessional about being proud.

**Author's Note:**

> So. I have. A lot of issues with a lot of the asexual Jon fanfics on this website (if you're on any spectrum of asexuallity reading this, this section isn't about you) including a lot of. well, clearly non-ace people writing about it (and sometimes even fetishing it which. no)(or also shoutout to that one person who wrote a fic of someone harrassing jon with sexual topics. gross dude)
> 
> Asexuals are not just "uwu quirky i don't like sex oh no how will I ever love". We're actual people, we're just living our lives. Yes, sometimes sexual topics and such can make some of us uncomfortable, but we're not children who can't understand sexual topics, we are people with no control over our sexual orientation just like everyone else in the LGBTQ+ community. We are allowed to have our representation and you all have plenty of characters to choose from with which to write your smut with. This character doesn't just mean a lot to me, but to a whole lot of other asexual people out there, whether they be sex-repulsed or sex-neutral or literally any shade of the spectrum. 
> 
> I'm not writing this to tell anyone what to do or to write, I'm just asking for some of you to think about it, like. Just think about what you're putting out there, about how what you write can have consequences for people who just want to scroll through ao3 without seeing a bunch of untagged smut fanfics about the only asexual character of the series. 
> 
> TLDR: Please dear god tag your smut fics appropriately it doesn't even take a minute it's not that hard.
> 
> So I decided to do smth about the issues I have with most ace jon fics. Of course, this is mostly my own experiences as a sex-repulsed asexual projected onto Jon, but sex-repulsed Jon is VERY important to me so if you have any nasty comments in mind that you are just itching to write in the comments, do me a favor and keep them to yourself! I'm just tryna create content like everyone else. Stay funky fresh everybody. 
> 
> Also yes. Jon and Martin are trans in this fic. So are Sasha and Tim and YES that is some sneaky peak of teacher!Jon because that au owns my heart.


End file.
